Quiroz was trapped underneath the car, which continued on to strike two parked cars. He was taken to UCI Medical Center after responding officers and bystanders lifted the car off him, where he was pronounced dead at 5:28 pm.

No word on how the collision occurred, though police don’t believe drugs or alcohol use was a factor.

A street view shows a narrow, two-lane residential street with parking on both sides.

Anyone with information is urged to call the Garden Grove Police Department at 714/741-5823.

This is the 29th bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the fourth in Orange County. He is also the 6th bike rider to die in Garden Grove since 2011.

My deepest sympathy and prayers for Eliseo Quiroz and all this family.

Yesterday, I received the latest in a series of reminders that there is, as my doctor puts it, a chemistry experiment going on in my body with the many medications I take for diabetes, allergies and neuropathy. Not to mention the diabetes itself.

Usually they play together well. But every now and then they combine to knock me flat on my ass; I can go from feeling fine to sick as a dog in a matter of minutes. Which is what happened yesterday.

Fortunately, Mike Wilkinson was ready to step into the breach with a report on Saturday’s Re:Imagine Garden Grove open streets event, complete with photos by his wife Argelia.

You’ll find his story below, followed by a handful of items to keep you abreast of the day’s most important news.

And barring anything unexpected, we’ll be back with a full report tomorrow.

………

The city wasn’t fooling on April 1st when Re:Imagine Garden Grove closed 2.5 miles of downtown streets to motorized traffic and opened them to bikers, skaters, walkers and other people on hard-to-describe conveyances. My wife and I couldn’t resist an event so close to home, so we put the pups in the trailer and enjoyed a pleasant three mile tandem ride to the event.

The starting point for most attendees was historic Main Street, where there were bands, booths and local businesses doing a brisk business. That was also the location for the planned “after party”. When we were there it looked like things were just getting started… even Elvis was in the house!

The route east from Main Street began on quiet side streets. It passed through the civic center and had a pleasant block party atmosphere. The pace was slow, so there was plenty of time to check the Vans skating demo and the many displays staffed by a variety of businesses and public agencies. Then a left turn took us onto Garden Grove Boulevard, where one side of the street remained closed to motorized traffic while the other side was open. The block party vibe was gone, but there were more booths and even some large, county-fair-style rides.

The quiet streets and turns at the start of the route were more relaxed but less impressive than the massive, straight line location of the Long Beach event we attended in November. Relaxed vs. impressive is a personal preference, but riding on one side of Garden Grove Boulevard while cars whizzed by on the other side probably diminished the open streets magic for almost everyone. On the plus side, Garden Grove had a distinct party central location that was an attraction for many and appeared to be good for business. Overall, we thought it was a sign of progress that a local city was hosting such an event, and we were glad to go.

One year into the city’s Vision Zero program, traffic fatalities are up sharply in Los Angeles, and increasing so far this year, as well, putting the called-for 20% reduction by the end of 2017 at risk. That was never a realistic goal. It took all of last year just to identify the high-risk streets and develop an action plan; so far, the city has taken no real action to reduce deaths.

An English cycling legal group is bringing a private prosecution against a killer driver after the state declines to do it. In the UK, private citizens or groups can pay to bring legal charges against someone the state won’t prosecute, for whatever reason. Too bad we don’t have that option here.

I don’t think they’re supposed to do that. A British bus driver is caught on video wrestling a bike rider to the pavement after getting out of his vehicle, for reasons apparently only they know.

An Aussie driver gets six years for the meth-fueled crash that left a bicyclist critically injured. She was reportedly on her way to beg her father for money to buy more drugs when she ran down the rider and fled the scene, claiming her car was damaged by hitting a kangaroo.

That’s exactly what happened last night in Garden Grove, as suspected DUI driver killed a cyclist, and her little dog, too.

According to the Orange County Register, a woman believed to be in her 50s was riding her adult tricycle eastbound on Chapman Ave near Faye Ave, carrying a small dog in the bike’s basket, when she was struck from behind by a pickup around 9:45 pm.

One of the Register’s photos from the scene shows damage to the hood of the truck, suggesting she was thrown onto it by the force of the impact, while KTLA-5 says the dog was thrown several feet away, still inside the basket.

No word on whether she was using lights or reflectors after dark.

The victim was pronounced dead at the scene; she has not been publicly identified. Her dog died later at an Orange County Animal Services clinic.

The driver, 58-year old Rita Faye McLaughlin of Santa Ana, remained at the scene, and was arrested on suspicion of felony DUI after failing a field sobriety test.

Anyone with information is urge to call the Garden Grove Police at 714/741-5800.

This is the 33rd bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the sixth in Orange County; that compares with 10 in the county this time last year. It’s the first bicycling death in Garden Grove since November, 2012.

A rare three-week stretch without a SoCal cycling fatality was broken last night, when a Laguna Hills cyclist was killed while riding in Garden Grove.

According to the Orange County Register, 47-year old Brian Winfrey was riding on the right shoulder of Euclid Road near Wakefield Ave around 7 pm Monday when he was rear-ended by a white Honda CRV traveling south on Euclid. Winfrey was transported to UCI Medical Center in Orange, where he was pronounced dead about an hour later.

The paper reports that the 48-year old driver, who has not been publicly identified, remained at the scene. No arrest was made, and no citations have been issued; drug or alcohol use is not suspected.

Which raises the question of why the driver would not have seen and reacted to an adult cyclist wearing a bright yellow reflective vest, who should have been clearly visible and out of the way of traffic.

Hopefully, authorities will check her phone records to ensure she wasn’t driving distracted at the time of the collision.

Now lets take a look at the numbers. And some of the surprising findings those statistics reveal — including some that suggest Los Angeles could be your safest place to ride. And that the door zone may be a hell of a lot safer than we all think.

But first, a couple of big important disclaimers.

These stats are based strictly on the fatalities that I am aware of, whether they have been reported in the press or have come to my attention in other ways. It is entirely possible that there were other bicycling-related deaths that I don’t know about.

These numbers also do not include non-fatal collisions. It’s possible that any given area could have had a high rate of injury collisions while having few or no fatalities. Or that one risk factor may result in a high rate of fatalities but few injuries — or the other way around.

The limited data I have to work with simply doesn’t show that.

Nor does it suggest why one area may appear to be more dangerous than another, even though I may make a guess at it.

And with that, let’s get on with it.

By my count, 71 cyclists were killed in traffic-related collisions in Southern California last year. That does not include another nine riders who were fatally shot — eight in Los Angeles County and one in San Diego.

Those 71 fatalities represent a dramatic increase over most recent years on record, with 55 cyclists killed in both 2008 and 2009. In addition, it’s slightly more than the five-year average from 2005 to 2009, at just over 68 traffic-relating cycling fatalities per year.

It also marks a return to the roadway carnage of 2005 and 2006, when 76 and 89 riders were killed, respectively.

Fatalities by county: 20112009*2006**Ave. 2005 – 2009

Los Angeles 24 22 24 24.2

Orange 13 11 21 13

San Diego 12 8 5 8

Riverside 11 7 14 10

San Bernardino 6 4 11 7.4

Ventura 4 2 11 4.6

Santa Barbara***1 1 3 1.8

Imperial 0 1 0 .4

As you can see, Los Angeles County has remained remarkably steady despite a dramatic increase in ridership, with an average of two riders killed per month. At the same time, while Orange County has dropped significantly from the horrors of 2006, it continues to reflect an average of more than one cyclist killed every month.

Meanwhile, San Diego, San Bernardino and Ventura Counties all showed a 50% increase over 2009, though both Ventura and San Bernardino were still below their five-year averages.

At first glance, it would appear that Los Angeles County is by far the most dangerous place to ride in Southern California. However, L.A. is also the most populous of the eight counties included in this count.

Ranking the counties in terms of risk of death per capita reveals some surprises, with the eight counties ranked from worst to best:

CountyPopulationRate of death

Riverside 2,100,516 1 death per 190,956 population

Ventura 797,740 1 per 199,435

Orange 3,010,759 1 per 231,597

San Diego 3,001,072 1 per 250,089

San Bernardino 2,015,355 1 per 335,893

Santa Barbara***405,396 1 per 405,396

Los Angeles 9,862,049 1 per 410,919

Imperial 174,528 0 per 174,528

Unfortunately, there’s no objective measure of how many people ride bikes in each county. But surprisingly, these stats suggest that heavily congested L.A. County may actually be twice as safe as other heavily populated counties.

Those fatalities occurred in 53 cities and unincorporated areas throughout the region, with eight cities suffering more than one fatality last year:

San Diego 7

Los Angeles 5

Long Beach 4

Garden Grove 2

Redondo Beach 2

Pasadena 2

Riverside 2

Oceanside 2

Again, using the measurement of deaths per population reveals some very surprising results:

CityPopulationRate of death

Redondo Beach 66,748 1 per 33,374

Pasadena 137,122 1 per 68,562

Oceanside 167,086 1 per 83,543

Garden Grove 170,883 1 per 85,441

Long Beach 462,257 1 per 115,564

Riverside 303,871 1 per 151,936

San Diego 1,301,617 1 per 185,945

Los Angeles 3,792,621 1 per 758,524

While multiple deaths in smaller cities may raise a red flag, they don’t really tell us much. Two deaths apiece in each in the first four cities could be a statistical fluke; just one more in any of the other 45 cities not listed here, and they could have made this list, as well.

It’s also worth noting that some of these cities, such as Oceanside and Redondo Beach, are destination areas for cyclists, with a level of weekend ridership that can far exceed their relatively small populations as cyclists pass through from other areas.

More interesting is the fact that the City of Angels, with it’s long-held reputation for car culture, bad streets and open hostility to cyclists, has significantly fewer fatalities per capita than Riverside and San Diego. Combined.

That could reflect any number of factors, from the possibility of better trauma care and emergency response times in L.A., to more dangerous streets in Long Beach — including Los Coyotes and PCH — that have yet to see the improvements that have made biking safer in other areas of the city.

But it’s shocking to think that you may actually be safer riding your bike in bike-unfriendly L.A. than the streets of the self-proclaimed most bicycle friendly city in America.

Then again, the real shocker is that L.A. could a hell of a lot safer than most of us thought.

Myself included.

Now let’s look at some equally surprising stats on how these collisions occurred.

Again, bear in mind that most of this information has been gleaned from media reports; in some cases, they offer a detailed analysis of the collision, and in others, barely mention anything more than the fact that it occurred.

We’ll start with the question of who was at fault.

Driver: 32

Cyclist: 28****

Unknown or both: 11

This is my own analysis of the collision, based on the limited information I have; it does not necessarily reflect how the police, sheriff’s or CHP may have assigned fault.

Especially since many investigative officers tend to be poorly trained in bike collision analysis and investigation, and often appear to be biased in favor of the motorist.

In the absence of any information to the contrary, I assigned hit-and-runs to the fault of the driver, on the assumption that an innocent person has little motive to flee — while recognizing that is not always true.

I have also assigned fault for solo collisions and riders hit by trains to the cyclist. Even though it’s possible that other factors, such as near misses by motorists or poor road conditions, may have contributed to the death in some way.

These numbers also err on the low side, reflecting only the information I have been able to document; in many cases, there was not enough information to make a determination.

And there may be multiple factors involved in any given collision, so these won’t add up to a total of 71.

So let’s look at some of the other numbers.

At least 25 riders were hit from behind — by far the leading cause of cycling fatalities in 2010

At least 13 were hit-and-runs

At least 12 were hit at intersections or driveways

At least 10 involved drugs or alcohol — and not always on the part of the driver

At least eight were hit while riding on or leaving a sidewalk

At least seven were hit head-on, usually while riding on the wrong side of the street

For decades, we’ve been taught that the door zone is one of the most dangerous places to ride; vehicular cyclists often refer to it as the death zone.

Yet these stats show just the opposite. You are far more likely to be killed in a hit-from-behind collision or at an intersection than you are by getting doored. And yet, the solution we’re invariably taught is to ride in the traffic lane, directly in front of traffic coming up from behind.

Maybe that’s because so many cyclists are heeding that advice and avoiding the door zone, while placing themselves at greater risk of getting hit from behind. Or maybe because hit-from-behind collisions tend to occur at higher speeds, reducing survivability, while doorings tend to be relatively slow speed collisions that are more likely to result in injury than death — especially if the rider is wearing a helmet to protect from head injuries in a fall.

And that’s not to say that riding in the door zone is safe. But it may be far less deadly than we have been lead to believe.

Of course, that’s not the only conclusion that jumps out from these numbers.

Like far too many drivers are willing to flee the scene, leaving their victims to die in the street. Too many cyclists run stop signs — especially when other vehicles are present.

Sidewalks remain dangerous places for cyclists, particularly where they intersect with streets and driveways.

Riders can lower their risk simply by riding on the right side of the road and using lights after dark. And staying of the roads after drinking or using drugs.

Ditto for stopping for trains; once the warning signals chime and the gates drop, stay the hell off the tracks. And that goes for drivers trying to beat a train, as well.

Bike lanes are no guarantee of safety. Yet there were fewer cyclists killed in bike lanes than on sidewalks and crosswalks, and far fewer than on streets without them. But that may just speak to the scarcity of bike lanes in most of Southern California.

Then there’s the single most glaring conclusion we can make from these fatalities.

Update: in response to one of the comments to this post, I’ve added information on how many of the victims were under 18; six riders were 12 or under when they were killed, while another five were aged 15 to 17. In addition, seven of the victims were over the age of 70.

……..

*Most recent year currently on record

**Worst of the five years on record

***I will drop Santa Barbara County from this count next year, to reflect the 7-county area included in the Southern California Council of Governments (SCAG)

Google Street View reveals the riders had a stop sign, while the driver had an uncontrolled intersection, suggesting that the riders may have gone through the stop. However, it is also possible that the driver may have been speeding, or the cyclists’ view of the oncoming car could have been obstructed in some way.

This is the first cycling fatality in Los Angeles County this year, along with one each in Riverside and San Bernardino Counties.

Thanks to Rex Reese for the heads-up.

……..

A search for information about this collision also uncovered one final fatality for 2011.

An 80-year old Garden Grove man died yesterday after being hit by a car while riding on the sidewalk.

According to KCBS Channel 2, the man was hit when a Ford F-250 pickup made a right turn from a the driveway of a business near the intersection of Brookhurst Street near Jennrich Avenue in Garden Grove. The victim’s name has been withheld pending notification of next-of-kin; my condolences to his family and loved ones.

The Orange County Register reports that the 36-year old driver remained at the scene, telling police that he looked for traffic before pulling out of the parking lot, but didn’t see the cyclist; no arrest has been made, and alcohol or drugs is not believed to have been a factor.

This tragedy is a reminder that, contrary to common perceptions, it’s actually a lot more dangerous to ride on the sidewalk than in the street.

Drivers exiting driveways and parking lots are focused on traffic as they try to enter the street, and may not see anyone approaching on the sidewalk — even though they should. And visibility for drivers is greatly reduced, as nearby buildings can hide riders from view until the last second.

In fact, one prominent study found a nearly 25% greater risk factor for cyclists riding on the sidewalk as opposed to riding a typical street. In other words, while you might be frightened by those cars buzzing by, you’re a lot safer in the street where drivers can see you then relying on the false security of the sidewalk.

And just how sad is it that in this age of rampant hit-and-run, it’s necessary for a reporter to mention that the driver didn’t run away?

This marks the third biking fatality in Southern California in less than three weeks, following the deaths of Joseph Powers and Kevin Unck less than 10 days into the new year.